How Wrong We Are

As many of you know the Nobel Prizes were recently awarded. I decided last night to read through some of the papers that Nambu (who won half of the physics prize) wrote. These papers helped to understand the origin of mass in protons, neutrons, and similar objects and informed our current understanding of how fundamental masses of electrons and quarks are generated.

For me what was stunning though was how wrong the paper is. It was written based on the views of the particle world that were dominant in 1961 with no real concept of quarks or that protons and neutrons are compound particles. This makes the paper rather clunky compared to the current understanding and how the same principles might be presented in a modern textbook.

Perhaps it is a lesson to us. He was not awarded the prize for an extremely accurate prediction but rather for an insight that fueled our undertanding of the masses of subatomic particles. He wasn't the first to have the idea; he borrowed it from theories of superconductivity. He didn't put the finishing touches on it. But he did apply the insight in a new way that has shaped theoretical physics for 50 years. I think that deserves a prize.

What's in a signature?

We'll try this out in the public forum.

I was filling out Perry's Scout registration and I got into a discussion with Staci about what is actually meant by a signature. In specific, I want my signature to mean that Perry and I will abide by scout rules and attempt to uphold the scouting tradition. I do not want my signature to mean that I support the scout policies forbiding openly gay and atheist leaders and scouts.

I wanted to simply add a brief note after my signature stating this. It would not be a loud or public protest, simply a statement of my belief that scouts should be for all boys and that while I am straight and believe in God myself, I don't believe that being gay or basing your moral grounding outside of the belief in deity makes you unworthy or dangerous as a part of scouting.

So here are my questions.

To what extent does silence imply consent? Does signing it without an adendum make me morally responsible in some small part for actions that I think are wrong?

What would be a more productive form of protest? I don't believe that my note alone would do anything except maybe cause a hangup in Perry's registration (which I don't want). Nor do I want to protest from the outside or cause scouting embarassment or hassle. However, I do believe that if everyone that wanted to be a part of scouting but disagreed with this policy voiced that opinion, the scout counsel would reconsider their decisions.

Thoughts and opinions welcome.

Boat Parade II

I think I've come up with a plan to enter the boat parade. I'm going to simply paddle it like a canoe and decorate it with glow in the dark sticks like kids wear at Halloween. This should cost less than $20 for the paddles (my big one broke a few months back and my little ones won't do for the whole parade) and maybe $10 more for the light sticks. So now the question is, anyone interested in joining me? I need at least two others (I figure it is best to have at least two people paddling and one steering) and can probably take at least 6 (including me).

Where's My Application?

I thought a long time ago that a good way to assign congresional districts would be to require that they each have the same population and then minimize the length of the boundaries. In essense this would push the districts into the most square shapes possible and make them geographically localized. For example, Dana Rohrbacher's district stretches along the Southern Califoria coast from Palos Verdes to Hunington Beach, which in my mind is clearly Gerrymandered to be a safe republican seat. (Though Debbie Cook gave him a good run for his money this time.) This would not stand up in my system because the long boundary would be intollerable.

Until yesterday the idea that I could ever advance this idea to anywhere that it might make a difference was unthinkable. Now with the passage of proposition 11 it is only preposterous. I know it is just for state legislature districts, but the idea is the same. So I really do want to apply for the citizens panel and try to promote this idea. I don't think I'm very likely to be chosen, but what can it hurt to apply.

I'm also wondering if I should reregister to drop my party affiliation. I believe my approach is very non-partisan so I would like to be one of the independent panel members.

So the real question is: How do I apply?